Last night was one of the worst nights of my life. I am still incredibly shaken up by what happened enough to the point of where I'm still having problems talking about it. So I will tell you my side in a few words then link you to a more detailed version of how Knick explains it .

I was playing in Salt Lake City about 1 hour away at a massive outdoor event. 700 presold tickets, and by 11:20, there were 1400 kids there already. All in all total expected were around 3 - 4 thousand to this all drum and bass event with Craze , Spor , Syze , Knick of Evol Intent and the awesome locals.Event was held on private land, with an amazing view of the mountains surrounding us as we were deep in them. This event was has all permits with the county a huge insurance policy of 2 million dollars and they were also going to pay taxes on all the ticket and entrance sales. Reason you have to know this is because of what happened next. And in NO MEANS is this story exaggerated.

It was 11:35 I had 30 min before my set. I was running around looking at the mountains taking a deep breath and thinking to myself what an amazing place this was and looking at all the people having a great time, over all the vibe was amazing and I was proud to be a part of such a well put together Drum And Bass event. This was not a rave as reported by the news It was a Drum and Bass gathering.

As I walk towards the stage I notice a helicopter coming over the mountains with massive spot light as it nears it fly’s over everyone and circling us.Within minutes like out of some movie, soldiers with guns (rifles)come in out of the grass, as if it was Vietnam flashback... The police in full riot gear come in, with big trucks. Next thing you know they are throwing tear gas, setting dogs on people, arresting kids everywhere you look sometimes 4 big guys on one guy kicking him down tying his hands as you can hear him yelling out of pain. As I stand on the stage out of shock (as you can see me in the video that's all around now) I can see it all go down and next thing I hear is Nick yelling for me to get of the stage, since there are 3 men dressed in army outfits with guns. I grab my bag and proceed to walk fast to the car with Nick and Spor.

As I turn around I notice the them throw more tear gas. I yell at Nick: "Oh my god they are throwing gas open the door, open the door. He covers my face and eyes and tell me to not breath it in." Now this point is important since I have bad asthma and something like that can make throw me into a big asthma shock.

While we hurry to open the car I can see kids made to sit in a line in the dirt with their hands tied behind their backs. And my heart begins to bleed out of sadness. As I see them being guarded by the military looking men with their. You must remember in this whole time NO ONE was resisting arrest or making a big deal. Everyone peaceful started to walk out yet they were using full force on people! I could hear dogs barking, and men yelling saying things like, "Get the hell out or your ass is in jail." We had the performers parking so we were one of the first to get out. 15 min down the road we were pulled of at a gas station since I was about to be sick. My phone rings and it’s the promoter. Hearing his shaky voice I snap out of my shock and begin to cry my eyes out while Nick comforts me. The promoter tells me that he had a gun held to his head and told to get the F$^$$^K out. We all rally up and meet back at the hotel. Where we were all in shock. The other horrible stories that came out of this night, I am sure will be told. The point here is, This event was legit. The promoter spend time and money to make sure of it. And for us having a dance outdoor event, they still wanted to bust it up and send in the army...

Its hard for me to still out what the hell happened? Is this what out country has come to ? What were 3000 kids on private land in the mountains near NOTHING going to do to ANYONE?

The promoters are following with legal action against the county. I will do my best to help them fight this. And if you think this matter is a joke then all I have to say is . I didn’t believe it until I had gas thrown at me. I am going to make sure I keep you all posted on this, and let you know if there's a way any of you can help.

[another attendee of the event writes:]

I arrived at the main gate at about 10:30 PM for the music festival. I was searched thoroughly by two security checkpoints. I made a comment to my friend "What do they think we missed the first one?" We then gave our previously bought tickets to a girl worker and she directed us to very well structured parking where there was more workers to direct us the spot in which to park. They told me where the portapotties were as we headed up towards the music. There were lines of garbage cans and yellow tape to show us the path to take. The set up was very well and I made a commet to an attendee that I had met "Have you ever seen a party so organized?" At about 11:30 PM we saw a helicopter overhead shining a bright light on us. As far as I knew it was a fully legal event so I thought they were just checking to make sure things were safe. Next thing I knew men in fatigues came waving guns yelling at everybody saying, "Leave now or come with us." I thought it was a joke... why would they have guns?? But they kept yelling so I headed for my car. At the parking lot I asked one soldier, "Can we wait a while untill the parking lot is cleared." He was talking to us when another officer came up to him and us and said, "Leave now.. Or go to jail." Pointing his gun in our faces. Cops with dogs sniffing me to try to smell drugs on me I'm guessing. Officers yelling at us to get to our cars which we were obviously trying to so.

It was a very scary event and my heart was racing the rest of the night. Thoughts of the night flashed through my mind and I thought of all my friends and how I hoped they were okay... and how scared everyone must have been. I couldn't stop crying once it hit me. I was so excited to attend what I thought would be a peaceful music event I and ended up experiancing one of the scariest moments of my life.

by "knick evl ntnt"

Last night, I was booked to play an event about an hour outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. The hype behind this show was huge, they presold 700 tickets and they expected up to 3,000 people total. The promoters did an amazing job with the show.. they even made slipmats with the flyers on them to promote in local shops.

So, we got to the show around 11:15 or so and it was really cool. It was all outdoors, in a valley surrounded by huge mountains. They had an amazing light show flashing on to a mountain behind the site, the sound was booming, the crowd was about 1500 people thick and everything just seemed too good to be true really. Well...

At about 11:30 or so, I was standing behind the stage talking with someone when I noticed a helicopter pulling over one of the mountain tops. I jokingly said "Oh look, here comes big brother" to the person I was with. I wasn't far off.

The helicopter dipped lower and lower and started shining its lights on the crowd. I was kind of in awe and just sat and watched this thing circle us for a minute. As I looked back towards the crowd I saw a guy dressed in camoflauge walking by, toting an assault rifle. At this point, everyone was fully aware of what was going on . A few "troops" rushed the stage and cut the sound off and started yelling that everyone "get the fuck out of here or go to jail". This is where it got really sticky.

No one resisted. That's for sure. They had police dogs raiding the crowd of people and I saw a dog signal out a guy who obviously had some drugs on him. The soldiers attacked the guy (4 of them on 1), and kicked him a few times in the ribs and had their knees in his back and sides. As they were cuffing him, there was about 1000 kids trying to leave in the backdrop, peacefully. Next thing I know, A can of fucking TEAR GAS is launched into the crowd. People are running and screaming at this point. Girls are crying, guys are cussing... bad scene.

Now, this is all I saw with my own eyes, but I heard plenty of other accounts of the night. Now this isnt gossip I heard from some candy raver, these are instances cited straight out of the promoters mouth..

- One of the promoters friends (a very small female) was attacked by one of the police dogs. As she struggled to get away from it, the police tackled her. 3 grown men proceeded to KICK HER IN THE STOMACH.

- The police confiscated 3 video tapes in total. People were trying to document what was happening out there. The police saw one guy filming and ran after him, tackled him and his camera fell, and luckily.. his friend grabbed it and ran and got away. priceless footage. That's not all though. Out of 1,500 people, there's sure to be more footage.

- The police were rounding up the staff of the party and the main promoter went up to them with the permit for the show and said "here, I have the permit." The police then said, "no you don't" and ripped the permit out of his hand. Then, they put an assault rifle to his forehead and said "get the fuck out of here right now."

Now.. let's get the facts straight here.

This event was 100% legal. They had every permit the city told them they needed. They had a 2 MILLION DOLLAR insurance policy for the event. They had liscenced security guards at the gates confiscating any alcohol or drugs found upon entry (yes, they searched every car on the way in). Oh, I suppose I should mention that they arrested all the security guards for possession.

Oh another interesting fact.. the police did not have a warrant. The owner of the land already has a lawsuit against the city for something similar. A few months ago, she rented her land for a party and the police raided that as well. And catch this, the police forced her to LEAVE HER OWN PERSONAL PROPERTY. That's right. They didnt arrest her, but made her leave her own property!!!

Don't get it twisted, this is all going down in probably THE most conservative state in the USA. And this is scary.. a gross violation of our civil liberties. The police wanted this party shut down, so they made it happen. Even though everything about this event was legal. The promoters spent over $ 20,000 on this show and did everything they had to to make it legit, only to have it taken away from them by a group of radical neo-con's with an agenda.

This was one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed in person. I can't even begin to describe how surreal it was. Helicopters, assault rifles, tear gas, camoflauge-wearing soldiers.... why? Was that really necessary?

This needs to be big news across the USofA. At least in our music scene (edm as a whole)... this could happen to any of us at any time. When we're losing the right to gather peacefully, we're also letting the police set a standard of what we can get away with. And I think that's BULLSHIT!

The system fucked up last night... They broke up a party that was 100% legal and they physically hurt a lot of people there at the same time. The promoters already have 6 lawsuits ready to file with their lawyers and the ACLU is already involved.